Her Brave Warrior
by the-wicked-zutarians
Summary: This is a story about a young girl from the Northern Water tribe named Yue whose life is interwoven with that of the spirits Yin and Yang. But she knows that one day she will have to repay the debt she owes to the moon. No matter what it takes...


Disclaimer: If I owned the show this would be a series short, not another piece of fanfiction. I do not own and am not affiliated in any way with Avatar: The Last Airbender, Nickelodeon, or the creators. Everything belongs to them.

Summary: A combination story between the spirit world and the physical world, this fic is about the story of Yue, woven in with the story of 2 spirits, known as Yin and Yang. The Northern Water Tribe girl holds a delicate connection with the moon spirit and knows she must one day repay the debt she owes to it.

Rating: Fiction K+

Ship: Yuokka

Warnings:

Her Brave Warrior

A princess would be born. She would come and go before her time, yet manage to save her people before she went. At least that is what the prophecy said. It was made sixteen years before a fitting child was born, but the world was much different. Of course there was the world and the spirit world. This was much as it had been since the beginning of time, and what it would be like for some time after. However The War was going on, and the avatar was still not to be found. Avatar Roku had passed and the new avatar was supposed to stem from the air-nomads. It was a wicked play by the fire nation, whipping out the nomads that made hope vanish. The great peace keeper and the ensurer of justice was dead. Thus People suffered. The world was in deep despair, and all hope had been savagely ripped from their breast by the hateful fire nation. Bitterness was the only emotion people bestowed upon one another, and neighborly love was merely a myth. Some would have said hope was dead. Not all, to be sure, but would most have? Yes.

The spirit world too was in a state of catastrophe. Since it was the spirit world however, things were different. There was at the very least a semblance order, but underneath the already tense exterior and below the ever present mist there was an undercurrent of deepest despair. You could hear the keening of the miserable ghosts at every hour. This misery sprouted from a great uproar that had been seen a few years before when the avatar had disappeared. A major spirit's life cycle seemed to have been disrupted, and that was no small matter. Since then though, the spirits that retained a minimal amount of sanity and peace; they had been working to give the appearance of a calm, cool and collected under-world. Beings of all manners had joined together for the cause. Dragons, pandas, and humans (spirit form) worked side by side, and while they couldn't return to normal until the avatar's spirit had been recovered and then restored, they could at least fake it. They did an admirable job of it too.

There was a certain pair of spirits that lead the pack from the very beginning. As all great spirits they had many names over time, and they assumed they would have many more in the span of their extensive existence. They were a man and a woman, and they were light and dark. They swam around each other in their physical forms where they were coy fish. They represented the way the world worked. They were the very system of checks and balances that everything relied on. They were the opposites that would bring us together and tear up apart. Due to this they had been called all manner of things. Every group had a different name for them, because no society could ignore them. They were venerable in the spirit world. They needed to appear stable and so they chose to stay with the names Yin and Yang most of the time.

Our story, I fear, must traverse both realms for us to really understand the reasons behind the actions of our subjects (both human and spirit). We will now jump to the physical world. We enter at a place where there is ice all around. Even in the harsh surroundings life there thrives. The Northern water tribe, beautiful in all its prosperity, soared high into the sky as always on that fateful day. The subjects went about their business normally with only a slight hint of anticipation for the events to come. The ruling family was as all other ruling families, one that commanded respect and received its due amount of it from very loyal subjects. On this day though, they were the most worried people in the entire nation. The Chief in question bit his fingernails ragged and it seemed as though he would run a rut into the floor with his incessant pacing. Many people had tried to stop him, mostly healers, but he refused. As much as this also annoyed his ever present advisors they did not say anything at all. His wife was giving birth, now was the man not supposed to be worried? She had been in the room for far longer than normal too, yet no birthing cries could be heard. The water had broken early, much too early. As the sun rose over the great frozen city and the day progressed the saying no news was good news seemed less and less helpful. As the sun increased in strength the Chief's hopes slowly died away. The sun ended its blazing trial over the earth and dipped below the horizon once again. Still no crying, no yelling, and no death bells could be heard. Not all was well, but not all was lost yet either. The chief hoped for a miracle, or at least half of one.

At last, well after the moon spirit's face had began to shine her ever soothing glow over the nation, a healer emerged from the room. She looked pale and ragged, like she had run a marathon. Birthing was a woman's business, and men were not permitted in the room during the whole affair. Most of the time they were grateful to not have to bear the screaming, cursing affects of labor, but somehow Arnook thought he would rather endure the yelling than endure the darkness of ignorance. The healer in her blue garments scuttled respectfully over to the Chief and bowed like a proper citizen. The girl herself was young, not more than just graduated from the healer's guild, she must have been an apprentice. Yes, she was far too young to bear the streaks of gray she did in her hair and the tired wisdom that stretched on into eternity in her eyes. She did not raise her head as she spoke,

"My chief. The birth is not as expected, and we all fear a still born child. We will do everything to save both of them, but we fear that the child may be lost." She issued her warning and was about to turn when the chief spoke as well.

"Thank you, dear. Tell the other healers to do everything they can. I am going to pray to our merciful goddess." He addressed the last piece of his statement more to his advisors than to the young woman, though his face never left her. His expression was grim, to say the least.

He traveled over the snow covered ice to the canal. He carefully unhitched his canoe and launched himself off the side and out into the open canal-way. The current aided his trip to the oasis, where he could pray directly to any one of the great gods.

A few hours later the Chief reentered the room where his advisers had waited patiently for his return. Still no other sign of life (besides the healer) had emerged from the room. You could see the hopeless dark in everyone's eyes. He looked older than he did when he had left, and even then he had looked old for his age. His eyes once light and youthful where now weighed down and ancient, more gray shot through his hair. He slumped into a chair in the corner of the room, every piece of his body expressing weariness; a general decrepit appearance had settled over his entire being.

"My Lord? Pardon my rude asking but is everything alright?" One of the Northern Water Tribe's highest advisors attempted to meekly inquire after his lieges well being. A tired pair of eyes met the young man's, and a deeply unsettling sense of defeat filtered from those very eyes into the advisors own soul. No other answer would be provided, but the glance was more than enough. They all understood. Maybe in time they would know what had happened, but they knew it was something of great importance and of great weight. It was something that they just weren't able to handle at that point in time, a weight to great for any of them to bear in the moment.

Suddenly a loud noise issued from the birthing room. It was the sound of crying. More specifically it was a baby crying. A strong healthy wail or a good hearty baby was what that was called. The beautiful yet keening wail that continued to screech form the door brought smiles to every face. Except that of the Chief… his face bore a despairing gape. It didn't disappear even as the healers came out with the young babe.

"A beautiful healthy baby girl!" One of the blue robed woman exclaimed to their looks of interest. " Chief! What name shall this little miracle be given?" The suddenly aged chief lifted his head from his hands to face the beaming healer.

"Yue." He stated. "I must see my wife. There is something she must now know." Arnook lifted himself from the chair and shuffled into the birthing room. He looked up to see the grand bed and his petite wife lain upon it. She glanced in his direction, sweat streaking her face, she smiled.

"Hello, love." She beamed, but abruptly stopped as she took in his visage. It was not the happy man she was expecting.

"My darling, I have some news." Arnook moved to the side of the bed and took the tired women's hand.

"What is it? Is the baby okay?" She was suddenly worried, lines appearing in her forehead.

"Yes… yes… but she should not have been." The Chief was not able to meet his wife's eyes, but he knew well the familiar look of confusion that would have graced her features. "She was going to be still born, her life to be extinguished before it even began…" He trailed off.

"That does not mean she should not have lived! It was a miracle, a gift from the spirits!" She gestured wildly in the air.

"Exactly. The spirits. I went and prayed when the healer told me that she would not live. I prayed and prayed, and the moon spirit, our blessed spirit, answered. She spoke to me saying that she would give a part of herself to save our daughter. That came with a condition though, that little bit of life would have to be repaid some day, somehow. Our daughter, our family, and our entire kingdom are now indebted to the moon. Poor Yue, for that is the name she told me to give her, is now part of the moon, and shall be called upon to return that life one day to the moon." Arnook sighed and met his wife's blue eyes. Understanding filled the beautiful orbs. A small tear stole down her cheek, yet she still came up to pet her husband's cheek.

"It will be alright. You shall see." With that she fell back onto her pillows taking a well earned rest for all her hard work.

The moon spirit felt the tug as another piece of her being fled from her and down to the earth. She didn't know why she had offered up another bit of herself to help that chief. Maybe it was the utter desperation in his prayer, or maybe she was just deranged. She heaved out a sigh as the weight of the universe took its toll on her insubstantial being.

Later, Yang slipped back into the spirit world. She floated through the never-ending mist until she came to the largest tree in the largest forest. She slipped into the portal on the side and was brought home. She lived (or chose to spend her time when she was not required to perform official duties) at the center of this tree. It was where the warm sunlight from the top and the cool water from the dark earth met and formed something new and beautiful. She stayed with her love, Ying there. In fact he was there now, looking out from the branches over the world that they called home.

"Ying, love, did you hear? The water tribe has a new princess!" Yang tried to saturate her voice in an enthusiasm she didn't feel. Ying turned, his dark form taking human shape.

"Yes I heard. I heard it all, Yang." Yang looked down as one of her white wisps wrapped around one of his dark tresses. "You can't keep doing that! You know that great spirits are not great spirits forever. We must eventually become human spirits again and another take out place. We have only until our livelihood wears out. Our time is almost up as is without you giving away pieces of yourself." He was angry, but in a desperate way, he wanted to her to be with him, he needed her to be with him.

"Relax. Even if I were to pass tomorrow, and I won't for another 50 years or so, another person, someone worthy of a goddesses-ship would take my place. Relationships vary with spirits, and she shall be like a daughter maybe to you. Remember I am 139 years older than you in reality." She teased gently. He knew what she said was true, but that did not make it any easier for him to deal with her passing.

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Authors Note: Please rate and review! All are appreciated. And if you don't, my evil vampires shall facebook-stalk you. Mwahahaha!!


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